Steering mechanism for road graders



D'ec. 9, 1924.

F. E. ARNDT STEERING MECHANISM FOR ROAD GRADERS Filed March 18, 1924 .2 Sheets-Sheet 1 2 mm wm mm Y 5 Nm. m m ww @d om om NU ww Um vm ow mm Dec. 9, 1924. 1,518,681

F. E. ARNDT STEERING MECHANISM FOR ROAD GRADERS Filed March 18, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FE. RNDT.

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Patented Dec. 9, 1924.

UNITED STATES FRANKLIN E. ARNDT, OF GALION, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE GALION IRON WO'RKS &,

PATENT OFFICE. y

MFG. CO., OF GALION, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

STEERING MECHANISM FOR. ROAD GRADERS.

Application led March 18, 1924. Serial No. 700,119.

To all 'whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANKLIN E. ARNDT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Galion, in the Icounty of Crawford and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Steering Mechanisms for Road Graders, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to road graders, and particularly to steering gears for these road graders which are tractor drawn.

In this class of machines, in order to do eiicient work and secure the best results, it is necessary that the operator be able to guide the grader to either side of the roadway or to work the ditch while the tractor or other draft appliance is located in the center of the road. It is likewise vdesirable that the grader shall be able to' operate with its tongue at any angle of about from the tractor and that the steering mechanism should be particularly strong to withstand the heavy strains to which it is subjected.

The objects of the present invention are to provide a steering mechanism of this character which is simple, strong and very durable, which will be give complete control of the steering to the operator, and in which the steering wheels are positively held againstv any accidental turning movement due to stones, ruts or other obstructions in the roadway and without any strain being transmitted 'back to the steering handles, and in this connection to provide a steering mechanism which will vpermit the grader to be disposed at a maximum angle with the tractor. y

A further object is to provide a steering mechanism in which the gearing is entirely enclosed so that no dirt can get at it or clog it, which steering mechanism is very positive in its action and may be readily replaced or repaired if necessary.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the accom-l panying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a side elevation of a road grader having a steering mechanism constructed in accordance with my invention;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary ltop plan view of the draft tongue of the grader with the allied portion of the steering mechanism;

Figure 3 is a side elevation of those parts shown in Figure 2;

Figure et is a longitudinal vertical sectional view through ythe parts illustrated in Figures 2 and 3;

Figure 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Figure 4, the section being taken in the direction of the arrows.

Referring particularly to Figure 1, it will be seen that I have illustrated only so much of a road grader as is necessary to illustrate the application and operation offmy invention, and that the road grader to which my invention is applied is illustrated as comprising the' longitudinally extending frame bars 10 which are arched and operatively supported at their forward ends upon the front axle 11 and at theirrear ends upon the rear axle, the front axle carrying the wheels 12 and supporting the forward end of the machine by means ofv the bolster 13. The forward end of the. frame 10 is rotatably mounted upon the bolster 13 in a. manner which is not described, as it `forms no part of the present invention, and

vthe frame 10 to the bolster 13 are the rear- -wardlyA extending draw bars 14 which carry the usual circle 15, knees 16 and mold boardv 17. It is not necessary to describe the manner in which the knees are connected to the circle and the circle in turn connected tov the draft bars 14 or the means for raising or lowering the draft bars or rotating the circle, as these may be offany suitable form the construction and form no part of my present invention.

They steering mechanism includes a tongue, This tongue is composed of upper and low'- er longitudinally extending, approximately dat plates or strips 18 and 19. The rear ends of these strips, as illustrated most clearly in Figures 1 and 3, are diver-gently bent, as at 20, and then extended longitudinally, as at 21,'parallel t0 each other soas to be disposed between the brace 22 which joins the forward ends of the frame bars 10 and the bolster 13, there being a king bolt passing through the brace and the rear end of the tongue andinto the bolster and therey being a slee-ve 23 surrounding this king bolt and disposed between the two members 18 and 19 of the tongue so as to hold these two members.

A The two members 18 and 19 ofthe tongue extend forward nearly the entire length of the tonguel but are held in spaced relation to each other by a plurali-ty of Y spacing sleeves 24, through which the rivets or bolts 25 pass. Plates 2G' are also disposed between the ends of the spacing sleeves on the inner faces of the plates 18 and 19, and through these plates the rivets25 also pass. Preferably there is a pair o f these rivets at the rear end of the tongue, a pair adjacent the forward end of the tongue, and just rearward, of the forward end of the tongue there are disposed Ispacing ksleeves 24 throughy which bolts 27 pass, these bolts passing also through plates 28l disposed against the upper and lower ends of the spacing sleeves.k With the forwardmost bolt 27 there is enga-.ged the hook 2 9, from which a supporting chain 3.9 extends, this chain extending upward to and engaging with a hook 31 supported upon a V-sha-ped bracket 32 carried upon the forward ends of the. beams 10 and braced to.y these beams 10 by means of braces 33. This chain 30 has in its length a coiled contractile spring 34. This tongue support and chain with the spring and connect-ions to the frame is common and well know-n and needs no.vr further description.

The members 18 and 19 at their forward ends are converged, as at 35, and disposed between the convergent ends is a longitudinally` extending plate 36. This plate is riveted to the convergent ends by means of vertical rivets or bolts 37 passing through a. clamping sleeve 38, through the ends 35, and through the plate 37. The forward end of the plate 36 has riveted to it the two members 39 of a cleivis, the clevis pin being designated 40. f

For the purpose of shifting the front axl 11 into angular relation to the tongue and holding thel front axle in this angularly shifted position, I dispose through the plates 18 and 19, as illustrated in Figure 5, the vertical shaft 41. This shaft extends intoy a housing composed ofthe upper and lower shells 42 and 43, which housing encloses the worin wheel 44 a-nd the Vworin shaft 45 having a worm 46 thereon. Thisworm shaft 45 extends out from the worm housing, as illustrated in Figure 2, and is voperativelgT connected to operating means, as will be later stated. Y

Mounted upon the shaft 41 isa pinion 47, and disposed on each side of this pinion and at each side edge of the plate-s 18 and 19 are the rack bars 48 and 49. Each of these rack bars is alike in construction and each rack bar at its margins is adapted to fit against the edge faces ofthe plates 18 and 19 and at its middle is formed with the rack teeth 50 adapted to be engaged by the pinion 47.

In order to hold the rack bars in engagement with the pinion 47, l attach to the plates 18 and 19 the longitudinally extending angle irons 51, these angle irons being riveted to the plates 18 and 19 and extending outward to the side faces of the rack bars 48 andy then being angularly bent so; as to embrace the margins of the racl'bars and hold them in' sliding engagem-ent withy the -side edges of the plates 18 and 19 and in eratively connected by means of clips 56. to

the extremities of the axle shown in Figure 1. There are two of these chains 55, and obviously as the pinion 47 is rotated inone direction or the other one of the rachs'48,for instance, will be shifted forward, while the other rack 49 will beY shifted rearward and i this will draw uponv one of the cha-ins 55 and release the other chain 55, and as a yconsequence the axle will be turnedrelative to the toiigue. l I

For the purpose of operating the shaft y45,51 provide a shaftv section 57 which has telescopic engagement with a shaft section 58 but which is splined thereto, this shaft section 58 at its rear end having a universal joint connection with a shaft section 59 which is supported in a bracket 60, the rear end of this shaft section 59 having a universal joint connection with a shaft section Y 61, in turn universally connected to the shaft section 62v which extends rearward, as illustrated in Figure 1,l and is provided with the operating handle 63 disposed above the platform upon which they operator stands to manipulate and control the various devices forming part of the machine. i

By this construction, it is obvious that by rotating the handle 63 in one direct-ion or the other, lthe front axle may. becaused to take any desired angular relation to the tongue. Thus, forinstancerthe machine may be atene side of the road,the tractor may vbe at the other side of theroad or at the crown ofthe road, the tongue disposed at ari-*angle to the line of the road, and the wheels of the scraper held parallel to the side of the road so that the scraper will run along' onthc side of the road or in the ditch, with the tongueat an angle of as high as 45. It is obvious that if the worm 45 be notA rotated that then any oscillation of the Vtongue will be communicated to the ,chains 55 andwill cause the oscillation of the axle sothat the wheels willA follow/the tongne and-the machine will trail properlyfbnt at anytime the handles 63 may be rotated to compensate for this movement of the tongue and to keep the wheels in any desired angular relation to the tongue. This adjusting of the front wheels and front axle may be accomplished at any time while the machine is traveling or working so as to suit various working or service conditions.

It will be seen that this construction is very simple, strong, that it does not project laterally beyond the tongue on each side to any undue extentand that all the parts are such that they may be conveniently replaced in case of breakage or conveniently removed.

.I claim l. In a road grader having a front axle, steering wheels and a pivoted tongue, means for shifting the axle relative to the tongue including a rotatable member, a pair of longitudinally shiftable members operatively engaged by said rotatable member and simultaneously moving in opposite directions as the rotatable member is rotated in one or the other direction, connections extending from said members to opposite ends of the axle, and manually operable means for rotating said member.

2. In a road grader having a front axle, steering wheels and a pivoted tongue, means for shifting the axle relative to the tongue including a rotatable member, a pair of longitudinally shiftable members operatively engaged by said rotatable member and simultaneously moving in opposite directions as the rotatable member is rotated in one or the other direction, connections extending ,from said longitudinally shiftable members to opposite ends of the axle, manually operable means for rotating said members including a series of flexibly connected shafts, and an operating member carried by the last shaft of the series.

3. In a road grader having a front axle, Steering wheels and a pivoted tongue, means for shifting the axle relative to the tongue including a pinion, a pair of longitudinally shiftable racks operatively engaged by said pinion and simultaneously shifted in opposite directions by a rotation of the pinion in one or the other direction` connections ex tending from said racks to the opposite ends of the axle, and manually operable means for rotating said pinion.

a. A road grader having a wheeled supporting frame, a front axle, a tongue pivoted to the forward end of the frame, means for shifting the front axle relative to the tongue including a pinion, a pair of longitudinally shiftable racks operatively engaging diametrically opposite portions of said pinion, connections extending from said racks to opposite ends of the axle, manually operable means mounted upon the rear end of the supporting frame for rotating said pinion, and operative connect-ions between said means and the pinion and including a worm engaging the pinion.

5. Ina road grader having a front axle, steering wheels and a pivoted tongue, means for shifting the axle relative to the tongue including a pinion, a pair of longitudinally shiftable yracks engaging diametrically opposite portions of the pinion, said racks being shiftably mounted upon the tongue, guides carried by they tongue and engaging said racks, connections extending from the racks to opposite ends of the front axle, and

ymanually operable means for rotating the pinion including a worm engaging the pinion.

6. In a road grader having a front axle, a tongue having its rear end pivotally supported upon the front axle, said tongue including longitudinally ext-ending, parallel, upper and lower plates spaced from each other, a shaft passing through the plates, a pinion mounted upon the shaft, a pair of rack bars engaging diametrically opposite portions of the pinion, guides carried by the plates and engaging the rack bars and guiding them for retilinear movement, operative connections extending from the rack bars to opposite ends of the tongue, and means for rotating said pinion including a worm wheel mounted upon the shaft, and a worm engaging said wheel.

7 A road grader having la front axle and a tongue, the tongue comprising longitudinally extending, upper and lower plates held in spaced relation to each other and operatively mounted upon the front axle for rotation in a horizontal plane, means for shifting the front axle relative to the tongue including a pinion mounted between the upper and lower plates, a shaft passing through the plates and engaged with the pinion, a worm wheel carried by the shaft, a housing enclosing a worm wheel, a worm shaft section passing through the housing and engaging the worm wheel, a plurality of flexible shaft sections operatively engaged with said worm shaft and extending rearward therefrom, a pair of rack bars engaging diametrically opposite points of the worm wheel and extending parallel to the tongue, guides carried upon the upper and lower plates between which the rack bars operate, and connections extending from said rack lbars to opposite ends of the axle.

8. A road grader having a front axle and a pivoted tongue, said tongue comprising upper and lower spaced plates, the rear ends of which are operatively connected tothe axle for swinging movement in a horizontal plane independently of the axle, angle irons attached to the margins of said plates and constituting upper and lower pairs of guides, a shaft passing through the plates, a pinion mounted upon the shaft, oppositely disposed rack bars having middle portions engaging said pinion, the margins of said rack bars being engaged by said angleviiionsand being guided thereby, connections extending from saidf racliy bars tothe ends of the axle, and manuallycontrolled meansv for rotating the pinion. f v

9. A road grader having a front axle and a pivotedtongue, said tongue comprising upper and lower spaced plates, the rear ends of which are operatively connected to theV axle for swinging movement in a horizontal plane independently of tl-ie axle, angle irons attached to the margins of said plates and constituting upper and lower pairs of guides,

' 'a shaft passing'througli the plates, a pinion mounted upon the shaft, oppositely disposed rack bars having middle portions engaging said pinion, the margins o-said rackbars being engaged? by said angleirons and being guide-d thereby, the outer faces of the rack nections between the ends of the axle andthe Q rear ends of said ribs, and manually controlled means for rotating said shaft. Y

In testimony whereof I my signature.

FRANKLN E. AnNn'r. 

